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Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

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[ ] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

I think LQ would be a pretty big hypocrite to tell her sister not to visit a winter spirit on a mountain top.

It's funny how history repeats itself.
 
Also, that aside, this Winter Spirit doesn't want to negotiate, it's just that she's been strong-armed by the Names we've invoked and by turning her own Nature on her. It's a relationship that's inherently under tension. While this can last, it requires everyone to constantly be up to date with the procedures at all times, that there be no drifts, and that no bad actors seek to disrupt it.

What Hanyi seems to be advocating--effectively--is a controlled demolition into a state that isn't under tension. We don't necessarily know precisely how it'll shake out, but we can probably stack the deck in our favor if we play our cards right.
 
Bao Qian has noted that, even though Hanti is a spirit, she is very human like in the sense that she doesn't have a defined Domain or Way (just like a Green cultivator). If her insticnoate telling her to do something, K think it's worth it to help her refine her ken Way, since she's about the beauty of Winter

[ ] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)
 
I think we have to - Zeqing would rather explode and return in a new form, if we deny this, then we're effectively saying we shouldn't have saved Hanyi.

When all paths forward are miserable an End brings the chance for new beginnings, rather than unending misery.
 
Let Hanyi cook. Once this spirit explodes and pulls itself back together anew, she'll have another member for her frozen rockband.
 
Alectai said:
Also, that aside, this Winter Spirit doesn't want to negotiate, it's just that she's been strong-armed by the Names we've invoked and by turning her own Nature on her. It's a relationship that's inherently under tension. While this can last, it requires everyone to constantly be up to date with the procedures at all times, that there be no drifts, and that no bad actors seek to disrupt it.

What Hanyi seems to be advocating--effectively--is a controlled demolition into a state that isn't under tension. We don't necessarily know precisely how it'll shake out, but we can probably stack the deck in our favor if we play our cards right.
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Tbf, that also doesn't necessarily make her a problem. Like, the reason she doesn't want anything to do with us really is that she's depressed and feeling sad about how all her children leave her. She can potentially just sit there on her mountain being depressed without causing any actual problems for Snowblossom.

That being said, I'm inclined to think that even if it isn't necessarily the best idea, it is the one most in keeping with our Way. After all, Stagnation is Death.
 
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yrsillar said:
"...Hmph, I'll come once a year and sing to you too, nobody should be alone all the time, even if they're a jerk."

"Hanyi… that may not be…"

"It might break her?" Hanyi said with a sniff. "Yeah, maybe. I'm gonna do it anyway, unless Big Sis absolutely says I can't."
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Hanyi wants to be the intermediary spirit between humans and this spirit, basically. She'll presumably carry the prayers of the humans of Snowblossom to her as part of her ritual duties.

The very action of repeated visits from a spirit of the same family will eventually kill the Weeping Mother, because that's counter to her story of the loss of family, but that's not something we want to preserve. The Weeping Mother's current form is human-hostile; her death would just mean there would be space for a human-friendly spirit to move in.


[x] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

Yes, absolutely. If Hanyi is to be the leader of Snowblossom's seasonal court, she should have the space to suborn all of the local seasonal spirits under her authority. Carving out a domain where the putative lord cannot go is counter to our plans.
 
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[x] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

I say let Hanyi do what she wants. It could be a good quest for her to grow and discover more of who and what she wants to be. I also feel that this goes along with the promise Ling Qi made. If her visit was incorporated into yearly rituals collateral damage could be avoided or mitigated.
 
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Also, taking a niche as a Winter Spirit as a set of four Seasons rather than "Always Winter", also involves "Reminding Winter when it's time to cede the stage and start rehearsing for the Next Go Around". Letting Hanyi have a go here and doing what we can to control the potential damage feels like the way to go here.
 
[ ] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

If all the options have unknown ??? consequences, then it's better to choose the way that could actually lead to a better situation.

Right now Ling Qi has bargained for a contract of minimum interaction, to maintain the status quo of the Mother dying ever so slowly and making some offerings in exchange of her not messing with Snowblossom.

That's hardly a very stable agreement, imo.
Specially when future generations come and start trying to change things.
So let's let Hanyi speed up the Mother's breakdown, and set the Winter's ecosystem into flux.

We are still in the early stages of setting the settlement, so now is the best time to alter and adapt things around it, when the rites have yet to be established.
 
yrsillar said:
The spirits head twisted to the side, suddenly very close, her icy breath washing over her. The Mother's jaw worked beneath her hair, and Ling Qi glimpsed long teeth of rusted iron.
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Hey, I wonder if that means Ice Auntie used to be affiliated with the White Sky yonks ago before they left the region and abandoned her? Maybe she used to embody other concepts but fell into despair because her human kin all left her behind. We should find some White Sky emissaries to come visit and see what her deal is. They could be able to help with this spirit in ways that we and Hanyi haven't considered yet.
 
[X] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

This is probably straight-up murder given how spirits work, but...
 
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ActionKermit said:
Hey, I wonder if that means Ice Auntie used to be affiliated with the White Sky yonks ago before they left the region and abandoned her? Maybe she used to embody other concepts but fell into despair because her human kin all left her behind. We should find some White Sky emissaries to come visit and see what her deal is. They could be able to help with this spirit in ways that we and Hanyi haven't considered yet.
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I'm pretty sure every major ice spirit at least as far north as Zeqing's mountain either used to be affiliated with the proto-white-sky or "descends" from spirits who did.
 
[X] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

Looking at this, worst case scenario Hanyi makes the glacier stronger & able to keep more of its self, reducing the water it release to snow blossom while decreasing the temperature. Best case it renews the glacier, stabilizing its place in the winter ecosystem. In the worst case Hanyi becomes infected by the concept of abandonment & becomes either more like a typical winter spirit or a subordinate to the glacier mother, while in the best case she grows her abilities over the concept of renewal. In either case this will give Hanyi major influence over our fiefs ecosystem.
 
yrsillar said:
"I. Am. Not. Hollow."
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Bad. Ass.

He needed a moment like this, something where he declares his way himself and reminds Ling Qi that he is not a pushover.

I still ship moon-sempai above all others, because he's the only one that teases, but this was a strong move by the Bao.

Now we just need to have the Xuan start showing more of his sense of humor and this will be a real the way race.
 
[X] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

We may advise, but Hanyi is her own and should do as her instincts say.
 
Alectai said:
But yeah, Hanyi isn't a complete blank slate, and her instincts are basically telling her "I've gotta do this". I'm inclined to let her do her thing. Just like Zhengui knew how to deal with the Land innately, Hanyi seems to feel she has to do this, and she's still a Winter Spirit dealing with another Winter Spirit. For good or ill, I'm inclined to trust her instincts on this bit. She's not a child anymore even if she's still a brat.
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I mean, she's pitying this winter spirit and really who wouldn't. But why would we opt for instability over stability. God knows we have enough on our plate? Like seriously.
 
yrsillar said:
"Blasted cold," he wheezed, shoulders hunching. "You think I do not know my value comes from what I do, what I make, the coin and honor I bring in? I'll be forgotten, my works appropriated by more ambitious men, my name sanded out of history, if I have any at all? Pah, I'll still have done those things!"

Ling Qi grimaced as her vision wavered, the simple truth that had been pushed to the back of her mind surging forward. His ring had never gone anywhere. He had been standing there all the while.

"As if I have not known my every breath is weighted, measured and recorded for the metrics of success. As if I have not been told in more words that I'm not a silly, sentimental fool that the clan can afford to offload as an asset, because I've not the right mindset for 'real' business? Good work you wretch, you've broken my 'face', now what, think I'll give up and weep like a lonely child? I'll bring this hole down on us both first! The price of a Bao's life is more than you will afford." Bao Qian said angrily, each word punctuated by a pulse of gold and grey, the rock thrummed under his feet, and the gemstones woven through the fabric of his clothes, set in his belt and his rings, flashed and flared in a show of lights.
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Best husbando Bao coming in strong. It takes a lot of self awareness to look at the possibility of being completely erased from history; and then going "So what? I'll live well anyway."
 
yrsillar said:
Bao Qian looked strained, her face ruddy and red, ice formed in his hair, the skin of his hands split open, fingertips black with frost under the metallic gleam of his rings. He had never let go of Hanyi's hand.
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his
yrsillar said:
It was easy to forget that he was a stage above her, and well into that stage at that. It was only then that his wondering eyes actually seemed to see them, and he froze.
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wandering
yrsillar said:
My defenses were insufficient as well," Ling Qi said. The copper scent of blood, the surge of his qi, it shook away the frost from her mind, and she looked up now at the glowering teary eye of the Weeping Mother, who swayed too and fro now like a tree in a gale hissing softly in displeasure, sending the string strands of her hair swaying. Oily tears splashed upon the icy stone.
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to
yrsillar said:
It was a weakness too. She was not like Zeqing, Ling Qi though. She could not stop them from leaving this place if they turned on their heels and left of their own will. Because they were her kin, and her story, her core was that they would always leave her.
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thought

[ ] Allow Hanyi to do as she has said. (Risks of future changes to winter ecosystem, ???)

I wanna let Hanyi do this. Change will most likely be beneficial in some way, even if it will bring it's own end of troubles, I'd say it'll likely be worth it.

And anyway, any change won't come fast. This is a once a year thing for Hanyi, so that means it'll take years for any of this to happen.
 
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